As is well known, it is common practice for police officers, security officers, some military personnel, and other personnel to carry a number of items in addition to a pistol holster. Such items may include a magazine pouch for holding extra ammunition magazines for the pistol, pouches of different configuration which hold cartridges in boxes that fit into the pouch, a holder for standard mace containers, and a pouch for holding handcuffs. In the past it has been customary to fabricate such pouches of leather. Leather pouches are considered very desirable because they are durable, they have a good appearance, and they tend to conform to the shape of whatever it is that they hold. Because of this last characteristic, leather pouches are associated with a very neat and trim look, unlike a soft bag, for example, which will tend to be weighed down and deformed by its contents.
There are, however, certain disadvantages to leather pouches such as cost, susceptibility to mold or mildew, and a tendency to absorb oils and greases which cause stains detracting from their appearance. While leather pouches are not seriously harmed by some rain, they are not improved by getting very wet. And while they can be cleaned with some effort, they are not washable. Consequently, with the advent of strong woven fabrics such as ballistic nylon, many such pouches have been formed using such fabrics, frequently in the form of a laminate material in which the outside layer is of ballistic nylon, a center layer is of a thin polyfoam and an inside layer is of a lining fabric which is durable but soft such that it does not scratch or damage the finish of the article carried.
Patents teaching the fabrication and use of such laminate material are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,485,947 and 4,485,948 to C. L. Cook.
Pouches formed of such laminate materials do tend to avoid a number of the disadvantages of leather enumerated above. They are not harmed by water and are washable. Oils and greases can be removed by washing and such pouches are quite durable. Consequently, laminated fabric pouches have been quite popular for many purposes and have been produced and sold for several years.
One recognized disadvantage of using such laminate materials for the pouches described above has been that they never have quite the neat and trim appearance that leather provides. A leather pouch can be formed to look quite box-like with relatively well defined edges and corners, whereas the typical pouch formed of laminate material does not take and retain such defined edges and corners and behaves, in general, much like a typical bag. It is, or may be, deformed by the shape of its contents. Thus there is a desire for a pouch formed of the above described laminate material but which can be given and will retain a better defined shape as do leather pouches. Such pouches would then have a trim appearance similar to a leather pouch but without the cost or the other disadvantages referred to above.
There is also a need for pouches which are made of such laminate material but in which certain permanent conformations including protrusions can be formed on the surfaces of such pouches.